The ultrastructure of human organ-cultured cornea. I. Endothelium.

Human corneal endothelial cells maintained ultrastructural integrity after organ culture storage at 37 C for 10 to 21 days. Those organ-cultured corneas with postmortem times less than 12 hours had a complete layer of ultrastructurally intact endothelial cells of normal thickness and diameter. When postmortem times were longer than 24 hours, there was a complete layer of ultrastructurally intact endothelial cells that were large in diameter and thin. Control fellow corneas in moist chamber storage at 4 C demonstrated endothelial cell disruption proportional in area and severity to postmortem time duration. This implies that a dynamic process of endothelial repair, presumably by enlargement of remaining viable cells, occurs in organ culture.